Last day of the long weekend! I wanted to make the most of it and got in a spring cleaning mood (sorry, autumn cleaning). 3 hrs of dusting, wiping, washing made sure that my house was looking amazing and I was quite house proud. The only downside was that I needed extra moisturiser for my hands. In between I managed to cook breakfast and lunch. Felt like a superwoman today!
Avi made the most of me being home and asked to cook besan cheela for brekkie. I knew it will be back to cereal and toast and egg for the next few days, so I obliged. Besan cheela (chickpea flour pancakes) is a very popular breakfast in Northern India and something our mothers used to cook quite often. They say old habits die hard, so we still love this easy brekkie. The recipe and photo below.
Besan cheela
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Besan (chickpea flour)
- 1/4 tsp Ajwain (aniseed)
- 1/2 tsp red chilly powder
- 1 Chopped Onion
- 2 Whole green chilli, deseeded, finely chopped
- salt to taste
- Oil Spray
Directions
- Add all the ingredients except the oil and mix it with enough water to make a pancake like batter.
- Heat a non-stick pan and spray a thin layer of oil on it.
- Pour the batter and spread it gently with a spatula.
- Cook on slow flame till the Cheela is well cooked and is brown on both sides.
- Serve it hot with sauce or green chutney.
After having pizza for dinner, I was craving the simple dal chawal (lentils and rice) for lunch. It is funny coz when I was younger I used to fight with my mom when she cooked this coz I wanted something fancy every day. Now it is one of my favourite meal and I cook it very often, just a different lentil every time 🙂 Today was the masoor dal or red lentil day.
Just to zazz things up, I also made boondi raita. The word boondi has come from a Hindi word Boond meaning drop. Boondis are small deep fried balls of gram flour. It can be made at home but it is a hard job. You can get a packet of the same at any indian grocery store. I always keep one at home for lunches like today. Just add a fistful of it to some cold yoghurt to get a very refreshing boondi raita.
I cooked some boiled rice to complete lunch. Basmati is the only rice that we cook at home. It us called king of rice for a reason. Bas means smell in hindi. And if you have cooked basmati at home you know the fragrance can be smelt from miles away! Below is the receipe for the dal and the lunch pic.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Masoor dal (red lentils)
- 1 Chopped Onion
- 3 Cloves Garlic (Minced)
- 2 green chilli, deseeded, finely chopped
- 1/2 Piece Ginger finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- 1 tsp Amchur powder (dried mango powder)
- 1/2 tsp red chilly powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
- salt to taste
- 500 ml Beef Stock (optional)
- 2 Tbsp Oil
- Finely Chopped Coriander (optional)
Directions
- Soak the masoor dal in enough water to cover it for 30 mins.
- Heat the oil in a pressure cooker and add ginger, garlic and chilli to it. Sauté for 2 mins.
- Add the chopped onion and sauté till the onion is translucent.
- Add all the spices and mix it well.
- Add the dal with all its water and beef stock. If you don’t want to use the beef stock, add enough water to cover the dal.
- Pressure cook the dal for 2 whistles. Slow the flame and let the dal cook for another 10 mins.
- Let the pressure cooker cool and release all the steam before opening it.
- Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with boiled rice.
By dinner, I was not in a mood to cook and eat the capsicum aloo originally planned. So I sent my darling husband to the shops to get some snacks that can be heated in the oven. Not the most healthy, I still craved for them and my excuse was that they are healthier than the pizza or crap from outside. So dinner was these snacks, lime and red chilli chicken sausages(gourmet and lean) and some bread slices. I won’t say it was yum but was a good change. Work starts back tomorrow. So I will be back to routine. Till tomorrow……
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